No. 4 UC Irvine Battles No. 10 UC San Diego; Saturday At The Bren
April 03, 2025 | Men's Volleyball
THIS WEEK
No. 4 UC Irvine at No. 10 UC San Diego Friday, Apr. 4 | 7:00 PM | Lion Tree Arena Live
Stats Watch: ESPN+
No. 10 UC San Diego at No. 4 UC Irvine Saturday, Apr. 5 | 6:00 PM | Bren Events Center
Live Stats Watch: ESPN+
FIRST SERVE No. 4 UC Irvine will battle No. 10 UC San Diego this week. The teams start in La Jolla Friday (Apr. 3) at the Lion Tree Arena starting at 7:00 p.m. before heading to the Bren Events Center Saturday (Apr. 4) for a 6:00 p.m. first serve.
STORYLINES
UC Irvine moved up one spot in the rankings to No. 4.
The Anteaters are 15-5 overall, 1-3 in the Big West.
UCI enters the week playing the toughest schedule in the nation.
UCI is 6-3 on the road and 5-2 at home in 2025.
The Tritons are 16-6 overall and 2-2 in the Big West, also moving up one spot in the rankings to No. 10.
UCSD dropped two matches in Hawaii last week, 0-3 and 1-3.
UCI has won the last four outings between the teams.
HENNO NAMED NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
For the third time in his career, Hilir Henno was named AVCA National Colle-giate Player of the Week.
Henno led the Anteaters in both matches last week including the upset over No. 1 Long Beach on the road.
For the Week, Henno averaged 5.00 kills, 5.83 points, 1.17 digs and 0.67 aces. Henno hit .362 against the nation's best blocking team.
He is the second Anteater to earn this award in 2025 with Nolan Flexen honored on Feb. 18.
Overall, 35 Anteaters have been honored all-time.
CHASING NCAA HISTORY
Henno currently has 232 career service aces and sits third all-time among NCAA players. He is 23 away from Evan Patak's record of 255 set from 2004-07.
He is just three away from moving into second past Loyola Chicago's Joseph Smalzer (234).
LET'S TALK ABOUT LAST WEEK
UCI did what no one else has been able to do this season, beat No. 1 Long Beach State, sweeping The Beach, 3-0. The Anteaters won on the road in front of their school record crowd at the Pyramid.
UCI hit .472, the second highest percentage of the season. UCI's first attack error didn't come until 21-21 of the first game.
The Anteaters out-blocked the nation's leader 7.5 to 0 and out-aced the nation's leader 8-4.
William D'Arcy and Hilir Henno led UCI with nine kills each. D'Arcy hit .692 (9-0-13). The Beach would win the second meeting snapping UCI's five match winning streak. Henno posted a match-high 21 kills.
PACKING THE BREN CENTER
The next night, a school record 4,758 fans watched the match against Long Beach State at the Bren Center. It was the largest crowd by a school that wasn't Hawaii or BYU this season.
UCI has the third highest attendance average in the country at 2,320. Four matches this season have drawn over 2,000 fans to the Bren this season.
AROUND THE COUNTRY
The Anteaters are ranked second nationally in aces (2.16) and seventh in hitting percentage (.337), 11th in assists (11.64), and 12th in kills (12.39) in the country.
Individually, Hilir Henno is second in kills (4.36), points (5.40) and aces (.761).
Middle blocker Maxim Grigoriev is ninth in aces at .522.
BIG NUMBERS
UCI's .643 hitting percentage against Daemen is the best in the Big West and fourth best in the country this year.
The team's 77 kills, 76 assists and 60 digs versus USC are the top marks in the Big West in 2025. The 76 assists are the country's best, while the 77 kills are second nationally. The Anteaters 41 digs versus BYU are also the most in the conference in a three-set match.
Joe Karlous 73 set assists versus BYU are the most in the country this season.
ON DECK
UCI will visit UC Santa Barbara Apr. 10 then return to the Bren Events Center to meet the Gauchos on Apr. 12.
Players Mentioned
RS
/ Men's Volleyball
OH
/ Men's Volleyball
MB
/ Men's Volleyball
OH
/ Men's Volleyball
S
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